News

Health Effects Among Oil Spill Responders

Published on
July 31st, 2018

53,000 oil spill responders and non-responders who were members of the U.S. Coast Guard in 2010 make up the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Coast Guard cohort. SSS senior data manager Kate Christenbury is among the authors of an article published in Occupational and Environmental Medicine that studied this cohort, which is well positioned to evaluate both short- and long-term effects of oil spill exposures using both self-reported and clinical health data. Researchers found positive associations between crude oil exposure and various acute respiratory, neurological, gastrointestinal, and dermal symptoms among responders, as well as longer-term health effects. The article was coauthored by researchers from the Uniformed Services University, the Coast Guard, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, RTI International, CDC, the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, and former SSS staff.

Read more about SSS research activities in our online publication SSS Update.